Adele’s 21, which was released in North America 15 years ago on Saturday (Feb. 22), is an example of what’s possible in the music business when everything goes right – when a talented artist makes the right record at the right time and the record company knows just how to maximize its potential.

21, which had been released a month earlier in Europe by XL Recordings, was an instant hit when Columbia Records released it in the U.S. It entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 – a huge improvement over Adele’s debut album, 19, which had debuted at No. 62 in June 2008.

19 in many ways had been a dry run for 21. It won two Grammys in February 2009 – best new artist and best female pop vocal performance for “Chasing Pavements.” It also led to Adele’s first performance on the Grammy telecast, where she sang that emotive ballad in tandem with Jennifer Nettles of the country duo Sugarland. “Chasing Pavements” reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2009, in the week following the Grammy telecast. 19 made the top 10 on the Billboard 200 for the first time that same week, zooming from No. 27 to No. 10. (It ultimately peaked at No. 4 following her much larger 2012 Grammy sweep.)

21 displaced Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never: The Remixes to first claim the No. 1 spot in the week of March 5, 2011. The album had 10 separate runs in the top spot, the last coming in the week of June 23, 2012.

But the album’s success transcended charts and awards. 21 unified the fragmented pop audience like few other albums have in this century. Old and young, Black and white, hip and square – everybody, it seemed, liked Adele.

Billboard editors named 21 the best album of 2011, with Jason Lipshutz and Jillian Mapes writing:“21 became one of those very rare moments in the music world where an album is as commercially successful as it is critically praised, not to mention beloved by fans across all demographics.”

Here are 12 records that 21 set.